The Republican Study Committee, a House caucus of conservative Republicans, released a road map for healthcare on Oct. 22 as an alternative to "Medicare for All" and as part of a broader strategy to take back the House majority in 2020, The Hill reports.
"I think that healthcare is going to create our majority. I think that we're going to get the majority back in the House, we're going to keep the Senate majority, we're going to win the presidency because of healthcare," Rep. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., chairman of the RSC healthcare task force, told The Hill.
Five quick things to know about the plan:
1. The core ideology behind the plan is to return regulatory authority to the states by dismantling ACA regulations and replacing them with Republican proposals, many of which are familiar from previous repeal and replace attempts.
2. Specifically, the framework sets out to undo ACA regulations on essential health benefits — benefits health plans are required to cover under the ACA — as well as preventive care cost-sharing and dependent coverage, among others.
3. The plan would also place an "immediate moratorium" on Medicaid expansion and phase-out expansion where it already exists. In its place, the caucus recommends restructuring the ACA subsidies to create a per-capita grant system for traditional Medicaid.
4. The plan would reduce regulations on health savings accounts, allowing them to be used for direct primary care payments or short-term, limited-duration health plan premiums.
5. It also would allow for healthcare ministries, a religion-based health insurance alternative, to expand. Healthcare ministries are organized by religious groups and enable members to cost-share members' medical bills. They do not always cover people with preexisting conditions, and they leave some medical bills unpaid.
Read more about the framework here.
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